No one likes the sound of nails on a chalkboard right? It makes you cringe, cover your ears, and ask
why someone did that. Now what if you
feel even worse than that every day, but to an extensive amount of day to day
sounds? What if you become angry, get
headaches, cry, or slam your head into the wall saying “make these sounds go
away”? While this may sound like a crazy
person, it’s actually a disorder called misophonia.

Now, I am not a medical professional, so take this only as information
and not medical advice. Misophonia is literally,
“the hatred of sound”. And no, I did not
make this up. People with misophonia can
become enraged by a simple auditory trigger.
These “triggers” are things we all hear in our day to day lives:
texting, chewing, pen tapping, laughing, and the like. When people with misophonia hear these
triggers, they cannot help the feelings of anger, emotional distress, and/or anxiety
they feel.

This condition is hardly recognized in the medical
field. People who have it suffer. People with the condition enter a fight or
flight mode when these triggers occur.
One of the biggest triggers is chewing.
If this is a trigger for someone, they often either want to “knock
the person’s teeth out” or run away.
They want the noise to stop! Dr. Marsha Johnson
of the Oregon Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Treatment Clinic says these people
experience a “Mount St. Helen eruption of emotions and feelings associated with
this sounds.”

So what is the cure to something like this? Well, there is none. People who suffer from this condition must
deal with it. Some scream to relieve
tension, others avoid or isolate themselves from the sounds, others cover their
ears.

Why am I even writing about this? Well, I have it. It is absolutely terrible, and go figure, I
have a degree in recording arts. Misophonia
is said to get worse with age, and triggers are more prevalent with those you
love. This could not be closer to the
truth. I love my mom, but I can’t stand
the headaches I get, the anxiety I feel, or the anger that I have to deal with.

“Why are you always so snotty?” Or, “What’s wrong?” Or, “Is it because of me?” are the questions
I get a lot at home. I’ll ignore them,
say nothing is wrong, or make something up.
I tried to explain the condition once, and I got laughed at. Then it turned into a selfish phase of “fine,
I won’t laugh, or eat, or anything”. It
was almost as if it was being treated as a joke to get me to think about other
people’s feelings. If misophonia is made
up, then so is her claustrophobia. I
mean really: how on earth could someone be afraid of small places? It’s so stupid! See what I mean?

So what triggers it for me?
As time goes on, it’s easier to list what doesn’t. Most of the time, it’s triggered from home
from my mom. Chewing, mouth pops and click, talking while chewing, spitting,
laughing, sniffing, drinking, that “ahh/ugh” sound after drinking. So many things. Anyone I get close to I start feeling the
same.

This video is a great visual representation:

For those who have this, I am sorry. You are not alone. There is no cure for what we have. We must all suffer together.